1. 'The Nice and the Good' Iris Murdoch
2. 'Wide Sargasso Sea' Jean Rhys
3. 'The Last Samurai' Helen DeWitt

Here are my answers:

1. Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point, which is a non-fiction work about fads, memes, epidemics, etc. and how they spread.
2. That book reminded me Bellwether by Connie Willis, so I'm re-reading that. It's a "scifi" novel (I'm using the term loosely, thus the quotes) about a woman who does scientific research on fads. I'm also currently auditing this month's book group selection, Chaim Potok's The Chosen.
3. Next, I plan to read Potok's The Promise and Gladwell's Blink.
4. If I could share just one book, it'd probably be My Antonia by Willa Cather. It's a beautiful story, easily accessible, and few people have heard of it.

1. I just finished Joshilyn Jackson's gods in Alabama - as in, just finished 2 hours ago.
2. Haven't started the next one; need to pick up the books waiting for me at the library.
3. I remember really loving Rilla of Ingleside from the Anne series, although I don't quite know why I loved that one the most. But since it's one of the books waiting for me at the library, I'll find out soon...
4. Hmmm..let me think about this one post-coffee.

Mao's Last Dancer by Cunxin Lee.

I thought of you JD when I read this. It's an autobiography and definitely among my favorite books. The reason I thought of you was the struggle you're always in to find discipline in your life. This boy knew a lot about discipline! It was an incredible story of a boys determination to dance and to dance well enough to get to America! An amazing, amazing story! It reminded me of Angelas Ashes; the poverty, the family struggle, and the perceptions upon reaching America.

I am right now reading, the Mummy at the Dining Room Table. I'm not sure if I'll finish it. It's very bizarre.

I really dont have a book I'm looking forward to reading.

Everyone needs to read Angelas Ashes by Frank McCourt.

Good morning!
1. I just finished our bookgroup book, "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok.
2. I am currently reading: a) Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, b)"The Country of the Pointed Firs" by Sarah Orne Jewett and re-reading c) The Source by James Michener. Not enough time to read during the summer!
3. I look forward to reading a book loaned by a friend, "The Time Traveler's Wife".
4. And believe it or not, I would recommend that everyone read the "Bounty Trilogy". What an adventure!

1. Maus, part II (graphic novel about the Holocaust)
2. Nothing
3. Sin City series (graphic novels)

Yeah yeah, I've been experimenting, as you can tell.

With regards to #'s 1 & 2:
1. I usually read multiple books at once. Just finished: "Superluminal", by Tony Daniels, and "The Honor of the Queen", by David Weber.
2. Currently reading: "The John Varley Reader", by John Varley, "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. LeGuin, and "The Short Victorious War" by David Weber, and "Windows Server 2003/2000 Terminal Server Solutions", by Todd Mathers.

Which book did you read most recently?
- Number9Dream - David Mitchell
Which book(s) are you reading now?
- The Tipping Point - Malcom Gladwell
Which book are you looking forward to reading?
- Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

Besides childrens books...

1. Ortho's Home Improvement Encyclopedia
2. My Big-Ass World Atlas.
3. Some reference book relating to my next project?
4. Far from overlooked, but excellent none-the-less: The Grapes of Wrath
5. Read more NON-fiction... it comes in handy when playing Trivial Pursuit. ;-)

hmm i read close to 3500 pages worth of books since moving to KFalls.. lemme see if i can remember the books-

i reread all the Potter books up to the goblet of fire.
Prelude to Foundation (asimov), Short Stories of Ray Bradbury, The COmpleat Belly Dancer (Julie Mishkin), War of the Flowers (tad williams), Genius (James Gleick, about Richard Feynman), Six Easy Pieces (Feynman), Persepolis 1 & 2 (Marjane Satrapi), A Boy Named Cash (Albert Govoni), History of English Speaking Peoples Vol 2 (winston Churchill), Sign Symbol and Script (Hans Jensen), Dust Bowl (Daniel Worster). Some other ones i can't remember.

Not looking forward to anything in particular. I'm a voracious reader and read anything that come across my line of sight. Not reading anything now because i have to go back to the library. Doe the manual for my 4-track count? Does it cound if i've read it already, three times? What would i share... i don't know.. i would just tell people to read and read everything they can get their grimy paws on.

De-lurk again, just for a moment....

Haven't read any non-children, non-knitting, non-cooking books for, uhm, quite a while. So, I can't answer all of the questions, but I would say that the one book I hold dearest is Geek Love.

Now, get me going on Hungry Caterpillar, and it's all over ;-)

Colleen

(Hey J.D.--we've never met, but I'm Nicole Lindroos' friend/coworker in Seattle.)

1) I just read _Shadow of the Giant_ and _First Meetings_, Orson Scott Card (and the first books I ever bothered to check out from the Seattle Public Library, I believe).

2) I'm currently reading _Cosmic Puppets_ by Philip K. Dick and casually re-reading the latest Harry Potter book.

3) Looking forward to reading _Time Out of Joint_ by Philip K. Dick, next up in the checked-out books pile.

4) This is The Hardest Question Ever, but my current whim is to recommend _The Awakening_ by Kate Chopin, which I just discovered one can read online: http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/kchopin/bl-kchop-awake-1.htm

I enjoy both your writing and your photography, J.D., so thanks!

Just read:
The Road to Wellville
84 Charing Cross Road
Breakfast at Tiffany's

I am currently re-reading 1984

I am looking forward to reading The Human Stain

I would recommend The Other Boleyn Girl

1. Reread Archer's Goon by Dianne Wynne Jones, a author which majorly influenced Neil Gaiman and J.K. Rowling. A fantastic book full of huge surprises.
2. Looking for Jake by China Mieville (actually should arrive today in the mail).
3. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
4. Lizard Music by Pinkwater or Okla Hannali by R.A. Lafferty (a Choctaw historical/tall tale novel).
5. Phillip K. Dick is a strange writer. He has written four brilliant novels pretending to be sci-fi (A scanner darkly, man in the high castle, flow my tears the policeman said and do androids dream of electric sheep?). However the other 6 novels I tried reading by him were horrible. Any recommendations here?

just read: The Wife by meg wolitzer, it was gripping and suburban and capote-ish all at once (and yes, i too read Harry Potter - but within 30 hours of receiving it from Amazon ;)

reading: Lee: The Last Years by charles bracelen flood - during his last years he was president of my alma mater. also, Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten and Mama's Home - my kids' current faves.

looking forward to: jennifer weiner's In Her Shoes and Little Earthquakes - trashy mommy lit, yum

recommend: Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan by jamie zeppa. this book utterly transported me.

Just finished:
* The Misbehavior of Markets / Benoit Mandelbrot, Richard L. Hudson
* Wisdom of Crowds / James Surowiecki
* Freakonomics / Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

Now Reading:
* Silence on the Wire / Michal Zalewski

Just finished: "The Sea Wolf" by Jack London

Currently reading: "The Sea Runners" by Ivan Doig

Would definitely recommend: "Crossing to Safety" by Wallace Stegner. It's either my first, or second favorite book ever--depending on the day.

Just finished the most recent Harry Potter book.

Now reading "Endymion" by Dan Simmonsand selected essays by Wendle Berry (thanks for loaning me this book JD).

Next up: "The Chosen?" maybe the first book of the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons.

At the top of my must read: "The Stand" by Stephen King and "The World According to Garp" by John Irving. Oh, yeah... "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien, how could I possibly not list those books.

1. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston over Labor Day Wknd
2. Life is Funny by ER Frank
3. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova and The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon.
4. 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

1. Just finished: Bad Dirt - Wyoming Stories 2 by Annie Proulx.
2. Reading now: The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger and Don't Eat This Book by Morgan Spurlock.
3. Looking forward to rereading: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.
4. Share with the world: Steve Martin's "Cruel Shoes".
5. Bookish sharings: I've got the most glorious stack of 17 books to read all winter long, including one I wrote myself, and I'm selfishly looking forward to spending the time to read them all!

I recently finished The World Health Organization Guide to Hematologic Malignancies (Jaffe), Hemostasis and Thrombosis (Goodnight), and Hematology (Bain). Currently on Iaochim's Lymph Node Morphology and next on the cue Practical Hematology (Dacie).

I am looking forward to Harry Potter (no, I haven't read it yet) - something mindless and fun for when i am done studying for Hematology boards (sept. 22). Also, can't wait to be done with all this British stuff (a lot of heme text's are in the Queen's English) - I actually wrote 'armour' the other day!

I wouldn't recommend any particular book to the world, but I still hold that you need to read A Walk in the Woods, J.D.

Most recent book: "King Lear" by William Shakespear.

Book(s) I'm reading now: "Die Trying," a mystery by Lee Child; "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus"; "Will in the World" by Stephen Greenblatt (audio book).

Books I'm looking forward to reading: "A Feast of Crows" by George R. R. Martin; "The First Man in Rome" by Colleen McCullough; "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer; " Foundation ActionScript Animation: Making Things Move!" by Keith Peters; "Vanity Fair" by William Thackery.

Overlooked Gem: "House of Mirth" by Edith Wharton. Okay, this is a pretty famous book, but most people I know have never actually read it. Wharton was the American Jane Austen, and this book is her best. By the way, the movie version with Gillian Anderson is horrible -- stay away! If you want to see a good adaptation of Wharton, check out Martin Scorsese's "The Age of Innocence."

Etc bookish info: There's an un-named genre of books that I really like, which I'll call "Escape Fiction." I don't mean escapist fiction. I literally mean stories about people trying to escape from a well-constructed trap, society or prison. I.e. Orwell's "1984." Other examples I can think of are "This Perfect Day" by Ira Levin "Rebirth" by John Wyndham, "Logan's Run" by William F. Nolan and the "Tripods" books by John Christopher.

Can anyone think of any other (good) ones? They don't have to be sci-fi. A good prison-break story would work. I'm NOT looking for anything socio-political. I'm just looking for good fun novels in which one mind (or government) comes up with a clever trap and another mind (or group of minds) tries to outwit the first mind by escaping from the trap.

More Etc: If you like books set in a J.D. Salinger, Whit Stillman (writer/director of the film "Metropolitan") sort of style, check out "The Extra Man" and "Wake Up, Sir!" both by Jonathan Ames. These are interconnected. "Wake Up, Sir!" is a novel about the author of "The Extra Man."

Great questions!

1. Off With Their Heads by Frances Marion. 1970s biography of famous Hollywood screenwriter. Lovingly written but not very revealing.
2. After a long absense, I'm getting back into Nobody's Perfect by Anthony Lane. Who wants to read reviews of movies that came out 10 years ago?
3. Another out of print book - The Vicious Circle by Margaret Case Harriman (about the Algonquin Round Table)
4. Los Angeles: The City Observed by Charles Moore. This is a book about architecture, it came out in 1983 and the author is long dead -- however, his writing is as lively and illuminating as the most au courant weblogs. The chapter on Disneyland is especially fascinating. You should check it out, JD!

Guess I prefer the non-fiction.

Most Recent: Harry Potter and the HBP

Current: Plainclothes Naked by Jerry Stahl and Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

Next: The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman

Recommend: (Hard question) Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson was a great mix of history and fiction (so were the first 2 books in his baroque series)

1. Finished The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency last night on the plane.

2. I haven't started yet, but I'm due to read Don Quixote and The Invisible Man for my book club.

3. Tyler Florence's Eat This Book, the latest delivery from my cookbook book club.

4. Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King. King was a professor of Native American studies at the University of Minnesota when this book came out. I was living in Minnesota at the time. Shortly after, I moved to Vancouver, BC and King appeared there as part of an author's festival. Both he and his work struck a chord with me. The CBC made his book, Medicine River into a movie, but Green Grass, Running Water is my favorite.

CURRENTLY READING "MILA 19" LEON URIS
JUST FINISHED AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SHIRLEY TEMPLE BLACK
LOOKING FORWARD TO "MACAO" DON'T RECALL THE AUTHOR

I THINK PEOPLE SHOULD READ "CONDOMINIUM" BY JOHN MCDONALD. VERY TIMELY AND SCARY

I AM AMAZED BY ALL THESE REREADINGS. WE REREAD A LOT, BUT THOUGHT WE WERE AMONG THE FEW.

BOB JUST REREAD ALL THE ANN MACAFFRY BOOKS- WHITE DRAGON, DRAGON DRUMS, DRAGON SINGER, DRAGON MASTER, ETC. AND IS CURRENTLY REREADING ALL THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS AS HE GOT THE BOXED SET FOR HIS BIRTHDAY. I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE WILL READ NEXT.

1. Various in the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell
2. Now: Latro in the Mist by Gene Wolfe
3. God, anything I can get my hands on that the library will let me check out.
4. Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford. My mom read it while she was pregnant with my little brother. I read it while I was pregnant with my daughter. We both had freakish impulses, fortunately thwarted by our menfolk or circumstance, to name our children "Valentine Wannup". Also Ecology of Fear by Mike Davis - I have a disaster fixation.
5. We had to pack most of our books for almost three years. They multiplied while boxed and so we had to go purchase a large number of new bookcases. Keep an eye on them puppies!

From out of the shadows....
1. Which book did you read most recently?
The Cheese Monkeys: A Novel in Two Semesters by Chip Kidd
2. Which book(s) are you reading now?
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
3. Which book are you looking forward to reading?
My Little Blue Dress by Bruno Maddox
4. If you could share just one book with the world — some overlooked gem or something close to your heart — what would it be?
Kafka Was the Rage : A Greenwich Village Memoir by Anatole Broyard
5. Anything else bookish you'd like to share? My husbands books are currently in storage (painful).

1. Which book did you read most recently?
Charles Stross, The Family Trade

2. Which book(s) are you reading now?
Charles Stross, The Hidden Family

3. Which book are you looking forward to reading?
Charles Stross, Accelerando (Hmm, I do believe I spot a trend...)

4. If you could share just one book with the world - some overlooked gem or something close to your heart - what would it be?
To break from the hard SF string, let's go with George R. R. Martin's The Armageddon Rag

5. Anything else bookish you'd like to share?
I need to build a new bookcase. My hardcover/trade paperback bookcases are full.

So are my comic book shelves.

And my humor bookcases.

And my baseball bookcase.

And...

ok. I am one of those in the 'lurker' class - now I feel obligated to contribute to this blog that I so frequently visit...

There is a towering stack of books - both fiction and non-fiction - beside my bed. Because I study part time I am yet to get through the stack. This stack includes a non-fiction book on Feature Writing, Buy Your First Property, Labor Politics in Australia and 'The Constant Gardener' by John Le Carre.

I'm looking forward to finally catching up to the rest of the population and reading 'The Hours' by Michael Cunningham.

I think Margaret Atwood's, 'Alias Grace' is close to the best book I've read... although that was over ten years ago.

In terms of style, one of the most beautiful books I have read is 'The God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy.

I am also a fan of David Lodge, Sommerset Maugham, Carl Hiaasen and Peter Carey.

1. Just read Under the Banner of Heaven, by Jon Krakauer.
2. I am supposed to be reading The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova (book club selection).
3. Looking forward to reading The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.
4. I love This House of Sky, by Ivan Doig. A close second (I know, you said just pick one) would be Breaking Clean, by Judy Blunt.
5. A few favorite writers and books. Ivan Doig (Dancing at the Rascal Fair), Pam Houston (Cowboys are My Weakness), Pete Fromm (Indian Creek Chronicles, Dry Rain), Louise Erdrich.

And Kris, The Time Traveler's Wife is a great read.

Long time lurker. I am anxious to see what everyone recommends!

1. Just read The Path To Enlightenment - Thich Nhat Hanh.
2. Reading The Crystal Cave - Mary Stewart. Good Authurian fantasy, book 1 of 4.
3. Looking forward to Zorro - Isabel Allende
4. Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach
5. Once a Runner by Robert Pirsig is the best book on running you will ever read.

1. Which book did you read most recently?
I normally read a few at once. The last batch consisted of:
An MCSE study guide
Soul Music by Terry Pratchett
Les Halles Cookbook by Anthony Bourdain
(if he prints a phone book, I'll buy it and read it!)

2. Which book(s) are you reading now?

Again, I tend to read in batches. Currently:
Armor by John Steakley
The Stainless Steel Rat Joins The Circus by Harry Harrison
Globalhead by Bruce Sterling is also open, but I haven't managed to read more than two dozen pages so it's having a tough time keeping my interest.

3. Which book are you looking forward to reading?
I'll probably swing by the used book store this week and pick up a copy of The Chosen by Chaim Potok, as it looks like my ex took our copy with her. 'Salright, she left me The Promise. :)
If I'm allowed multiple answers on this one, I'm also looking forward to re-reading Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain and any Terry Pratchett I haven't read yet.

4. If you could share just one book with the world — some overlooked gem or something close to your heart — what would it be?
Just ONE?! Oh, geeze...
Ayn Rand's book Anthem had a profound effect on me when I read it in my teens... but I doubt that I would pass that on to others close to my own age.
Grunts, by Mary Gentle, is largely undiscovered, as is John Steakley's Armor.
And, of course, the world already knows about Tolkien what with the movies.
Dammit, J.D., this is almost impossible.
Okay. An overlooked gem (in my opinion) is Hardwired, by Walter Jon Williams. Amazon.com say it's a "heavy-metal adventure [...] set with acknowledgement in Roger Zelazny's Damnation Alley". I think it's among the best cyberpunk ever written, right up there with William Gibson's stories set in the Sprawl.

5. Anything else bookish you'd like to share?
Looking over my library, I'm reminded that I re-read a LOT. I've got a large core of favorites that I keep returning to, and I add only a very few books to that core every year. Lately, I've been adding cookbooks.
I haven't yet read everyone else's comments. I'm looking forward to seeing answers from the regulars and the other lurkers - and possibly finding some more good titles!

John

1. Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier and (because I didn't have anything else to read) The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank (I don't recommend it).
2. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
3. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
4. Fav book of the last 2 years: Solar Storms by Linda Hogan
5. we saw part of a book being published on human skin at Bumbershoot this weekend! The book is Skin: A Mortal Work of Art by Shelley Jackson

1. A Long Way Down- Nick Hornby
2. On War- Clausewitz
One Hundred Years of Solitude-Gabriel Garcia Marquez
3. Reading Lolita in Tehran- Azar Nafisi
4. True at First Light- Hemingway

jd -
On a day to day basis, I don't read material that is not related to my job (there is often a lot of research connected with projects.) My recreational reading is mostly confined to travel times (airports and on the airplane).

I am currently reading the Terry Goodkind series. I like fantasy (science) fiction because it doesn't take a lot of concentration and it relatively easy to get back to.

My classic selection would be the Rudyard Kipling book "Kim".

I'm another of your lurkers:

1. Just read: What Is This Thing Called Love, by Kim Addonizio
2. Now reading: Last Night, by James Salter
3. Looking forward to: whatever may be forthcoming from Alice Munro.
4. To share: In the Next Galaxy, by Ruth Stone

lurker here....

Saddly, most books I get around to reading these days are tech books.

1. "Rose and Isabel". (ok so I snuck in a comic book)
2. "C# Class Design Handbook"
3. "Jarhead"
4. My guiltiest of guilty pleasures, and whenever I mention it I end up taking no end of crap. One of my favorite books from my Jr. High days, "Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight"

Which book did you read most recently?
A: Roald Dahl - Omnibus
Which book(s) are you reading now?
A: None - see number 3
Which book are you looking forward to reading?
A: The Teacher's Funeral, The Lord of Thief
If you could share just one book with the world — some overlooked gem or something close to your heart — what would it be?
A: The Hobbit
Anything else bookish you'd like to share?
uhm you could check out flying under bridges by sandy tosvyg...good one